Lords
Proceedings
10 September 2026
Jobcentre Plus and National Careers Service: Merger
My Lords, the House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility produced a report in which we looked at the careers service. In the words of our report, we found it very patchy across the country. We also looked at the careers service in schools and found it to be enormously varied and fragmented. …
Lords
Debate
1 September 2026
Social Housing Bill [HL]
My Lords, if I may intervene very briefly to follow up on what the noble Baroness has just said about shared ownership, the Minister will recall that the Government suffered a very significant defeat—by some 86 votes. It was the first defeat of the Burnham Administration, on the Monday before we ros…
Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
Post-16 Education and Skills: Funding
My noble friend Lord Effingham is one of the politest men in your Lordships’ House. Would the Minister disassociate herself from the accusation that he is “strident”?
Lords
Proceedings
22 June 2026
Home Ownership: First-time Buyers
My Lords, I welcome the announcement on Friday. The Minister listed a number of schemes to help first-time buyers, but actually none of them has moved the dial, leaving many young people who are renting and want to be owner-occupiers paying more in rent than they would with a mortgage. Recently, the…
Lords
Debate
15 June 2026
Social Housing Bill [HL]
My Lords, I hope the House will not agree with Amendment 1. I feel a little bit personal about this because the amendment knocks out huge chunks of the Housing Act 1985, which I put on the statute book 40 years ago.
The noble Baroness talked about the erosion of the social housing stock. However, 1…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
2 contributions
Refugee Move-on Period Pilot Evaluation Report
My Lords—
The Minister will know that contractors acting for the Home Office—Clearsprings and Serco—are bidding for private rented accommodation as asylum seekers move out of hotels. Local authorities are also looking for private rented accommodation as they move families with children in temporary accommodat…
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
E-scooters and E-bikes
My Lords, it is time someone spoke up for the cyclist. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Shamash, I like e-bikes. I am one of a number of noble Lords on the other side of middle age who use e-bikes—legal e-bikes—to get around. Our case is undermined by illegal e-bikes being driven dangerously, often by de…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Affordable Housing: Young People
My Lords, young people are paying more in rent than they are on a mortgage, and so they would not need to join the queue for affordable housing if they had some help with a deposit. I put again to the Minister the question I posed to her in April, when she conceded that there was more work to be don…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, if there is a Division in the Chamber while we are sitting, the Committee will adjourn as soon as the Division Bells are rung and resume after 10 minutes. Sadly, the broadcasting is not working at the moment, so I will ask the Committee to adjourn for a few minutes while we sort that out.
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
Donations to Political Parties
Further to the suggestion from the noble Lord, Lord Sikka, that those who make political donations should be criminalised, hundreds of thousands of people in this country subscribe to their political parties because they share their values. Surely that should be encouraged and not criminalised.
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley. On social care, she is absolutely right.
On housing, the Government’s target of 1.5 million homes is not a policy but a dream. By their own calculations, they are already 400,000 adrift. In London we need 88,000 new h…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
2 contributions
Home Ownership: First-Time Buyers
My Lords, we are increasing housing supply across all tenures to improve affordability for young people. Our ultimate objective is to help more people get the keys to their first home, increasing the overall home ownership rate. We support first-time buyers through government-backed schemes, includi…
The noble Lord will not be surprised to know that I always agree with my right honourable friend the Prime Minister. Of course I also welcome the HCLG Select Committee’s work, which has particularly looked at the types of inequalities that the noble Lord highlights. Three in 10 people get help from …
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
Civil Preparedness for War
As I was saying, I reiterate the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, that this is a really important debate for which we certainly need more time. A number of noble Lords, including the noble Lords, Lord Farmer, Lord Sikka—in a particular way—Lord Rogan, Lord Wallace and Lord Bailey, and the r…
Lords
Proceedings
20 April 2026
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, if there is a Division in the Chamber while we are sitting, this Committee will adjourn as soon as the Division Bells are rung and resume after 10 minutes.
Lords
Debate
13 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I want to make a very brief contribution to this short debate. I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Borwick for his tireless advocacy for improved mobility for those with a disability. It is sad that we will no longer have that advocacy available at the end of this Session.
I want to pic…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
Britain’s Battery Future Report
The new critical minerals strategy sets out the ambition to meet 10% of the UK’s demand from domestic production and 20% from recycling, and no more than 60% of any critical mineral from a single country. For battery supply specifically, the ambition is to produce at least 50,000 tonnes of lithium i…
Lords
Debate
26 March 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I have added my name to Amendment 119 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Ravensdale. As he said, this has its genesis in the Select Committee which we both sat on—the Social Mobility Policy Committee. The noble Lord referred to the fact that we reported on 18 November. I just say in passi…
Lords
Debate
25 March 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, on these Benches we share the concerns expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed of Tinsley, about the rigidity of the Government’s approach to trying to control school uniform costs. Indeed, we would have been quite happy if he had wanted to bring back his previous amendment unchanged. W…
Lords
Proceedings
24 March 2026
Youth Unemployment
My Lords, I welcome the foundation apprenticeships in hospitality and retail. These sectors of the economy traditionally provided the first job for young people, but they have been hard hit by changes to the minimum wage and national insurance, and so this is a welcome counterbalance. On 18 November…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 March 2026
Renters’ Rights Act: Definition of Court Readiness
I do not know how many times I am going to repeat this, but I will carry on doing so. We are working very closely with the Ministry of Justice and HM Courts & Tribunals Service to prepare county courts for implementation of the tenancy reforms. These are very important reforms for landlords and …
Lords
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
Unpaid Carers: Patient Hospital Discharge
The noble Lord is right to emphasise the role that many children and young people have as young carers. The Children’s Social Care National Framework is statutory guidance for local authorities, which have duties to identify young carers who may need support and to assess their needs. I am well awar…
Lords
Proceedings
18 March 2026
Digital ID: Public Consultation
My Lords, first, I take it from what the Minister has just said about costs that no sum has been earmarked in the current three-year expenditure review for the development of the scheme—can he confirm that? Secondly, will people in Scotland have to access the Government’s proposed ID scheme for thos…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 March 2026
Children in Care: Illegal Accommodation
I thank the noble Lord, particularly for focusing on outcomes. That is the issue we face: too many young people who go through the care system do not have good outcomes, and we absolutely must address this. I welcome his highlighting the innovative approaches to providing supportive family environme…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
2 contributions
Independent Commission on Adult Social Care
My Lords, the independent commission is making strong progress, and its work is on track. Just last week, the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, set out early recommendations for the Government to consider and take forward. This was informed by the commission’s extensive work, which included engaging with …
I understand why the noble Lord pushes this point, and I am sure that we all share his view. It has also been said that there is not a lack of good ideas, but there has been a lack of good politics. That observation has been made. The noble Baroness, Lady Casey, is chairing an independent commission…
Lords
Committee Stage
5 March 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I will make a very brief speech in support of the excellent speech made by my noble friend Lord Borwick in moving Amendment 235A, an amendment beloved in Committee: delete the word “may” and insert the word “must”.
I commend in passing the moving speech made by my noble friend Lord Holmes…